Howard aiming to play into his 40s

Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard has revealed that he wants to keep playing in the NBA when he is in his 40s.

Howard is currently in his 12th NBA season and made it clear that he is aiming to have his career span for over two decades.

“That’d be fun if I was to play this game (that long),” Howard told the Houston Chronicle. “That was always my goal, to play 20 years, 20-something years in this league. I’m extremely happy and blessed to have been able to play this game for as long as I have been so far.”

However, it remains to be seen whether Howard can keep up with the physical demands of the NBA as the 30-year-old has not played a full season since the 2009-10 season, in which he played for the Orlando Magic.

Furthermore, Howard is also struggling to have the same impact he did early on in his career as he is currently averaging 12.9 points, the lowest since his rookie season in 2004/05. In addition to 12.9 points, Howard is also averaging 11.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.0 steals per game.

Despite this, Howard admitted that he is grateful to have played for 12 years in the NBA thus far, but added that he is now looking to keep going for another 10 years.

“I have played a lot of minutes,” Howard said. “I’ve been doing a lot since I came into the league. I’m thankful. I’m not going to complain about it. I’m happy that I’ve been able to play 12 years so far. A lot of NBA players never played this long so I am very happy and blessed that I’ve been able to play 12 years in the NBA.

“Hopefully, I can play another 10, but the time I’ve played, I’ve enjoyed it.”